[FIN] City of Delusion (ORP)

[Molten Tigrex]

(( This is an ORP! If your character feels this way about the DMC, feel free to join and please post! Just be prepared to prove your loyalty later on... ))

Most of the Negaverse had dispersed when the meeting drew to a close. Hematite had stood silently, like a sentinel, by the entrance to the hall of guardians that led up into the traditional Negaspace. There was a little color coming back to him by now, but if anything the experience and time to think on it had solidified into purpose. He stared down anyone who walked by, stoic as a statue - even the corrupt senshi. For those who met his gaze, he made a subtle motion toward the fork in the path, where a handful of Negaverse soldiers were gathering, their auras masked by the radiant power of the Rift. Only when the last of Tanzanite’s unquestioningly faithful had made their way out did he slip down to the cliff with the others.

“We don’t have a lot of time.”

He didn’t waste it, either. “These mirror-walkers can’t be trusted. We all know that. But our General-Queen forgets that any help we give them, any trust we put in them, will cost us lives we can’t afford. It’s happened before; it will happen again.”

“Unless we’re prepared.”

He slammed his sword down point-first into the stone. His fury was back. Enemy senshi were not going to infiltrate and destroy the Negaverse on his watch. His paranoia had finally paid off and others shared it. “If they didn’t want Earth for themselves they wouldn’t be here still. So I want to know that you all are not afraid to stop them at the first sign of their betrayal. I want to know that should I give an order, you will join me in taking up arms against them and slaughtering them, and shattering that godforsaken mirror before their queen can get off her royal a** to avenge them.”

There was a pause to let the weight of that responsibility sink in. “I want you all to swear it. Give me your word.”  

[OP-Yuna]

Bismuthite was brought in to the Negaverse by Tanzanite herself, and thusly promoted. He'd been loyal, he thought, but this? This!? Bringing those Senshi in to the Rift, telling them that they were to be allied!? After what they had done, cursed or not!?

Fine.

But let them lay one hand on a fellow agent of the Negaverse, and things would not be so fine. It was no lie that in his heart he wanted nothing to do with these Senshi at all but it didn't seem like there was any room to veto the uneasy alliance. So what was there to do but make sure his family, the Negaverse agents he fought beside, were safe?

He didn't think of it as a betrayal. Not entirely. But after this he could see that he couldn't just so blindly follow the Youma Queen, or lurk protectively in the shadow of now General Wolframite. At least this way...he'd see to it that everyone was protected.

Bismuthite didn't trust these senshi a single bit. Indeed, if they wanted, they should simply flee to space. Run away from this war. No doubt that once they destroyed the white moon, the Negaverse would be next. They'd turn on their 'allies.' That is what Bismuthite thought. Worried about, even. And indeed, what a brilliant plan it would have been.

"Trust me, General, they don't even want to look at one of our own wrong so long as I am here. Should one raise their hand with intent to do harm, they won't just be losing that hand. They'll be losing their life," Captain Bismuthite said, fire burning in those bright pink eyes.  

[nessy]

Azurite had seen the show and wasn't sure what to think about in her review. Alkaid trusted Tanzanite almost inherently. It wasn't even a far stretch to say that out of all the senshi that were on the side Dark Kingdom Alkaid was the Youma Queen's favorite. Alkaid was also Azurite's favorite. But Alkaid was very close to Hematite and it was his favor that she needed to secure before worrying about things like General-Queens who were absolutely terrifying as all get-out.

It wasn't that the pale-haired senshi much distrusted the mirror senshi. She'd never even heard of them really! But there was talk of torture and what she'd heard before was that it was the same mirror senshi that had tortured their comrades. Wasn't that a bad thing? So were they apologizing? She didn't see that either. Following Hematite down into where he indicated Azurite was nothing more than a shadow.

"I don't care who is betraying the Negaverse. Mirror senshi, officer, even one of my kind of senshi. No betrayal can be allowed, right General?"  

[Yinesa]

Paragonite, who had been away on duty with Scheelite for some time now, found herself questioning this new 'alliance'. She'd seen the effects of what had happened to those involved in the rescue missions. It was not something she could really understand this. It was nearly impossible to wrap one's mind around. Trust had to be earned.

The DMC had earned none.

At least, not that the Lieutenant had been witnessed to.

It was not a question that Paragonite would follow Hematite's lead. In the past she found that there were few things they did not agree on, be it person or rulings. While he had seemed to age in her absence, his stark disapproval of the situation, with the mix of proactive steps to remedying it , if the need be, was just what this called for.

"You have my word, General Hematite."  

[shibrogane]

He knew better than to speak up in the meeting proper, especially after watching the Lieutenants being thrown out a window. Who did that to subordinates who came up with perfectly salient points? It really was best, in the Negaverse, to simply keep your mouth shut and your head down. It might not give you a position of any distinction, but it also kept you from being… um…

Well. Thrown out a window.

Attention had been drawn to a girl who looked like she'd been formed of porcelain and then shattered, and the revulsion that Spinel felt then--and still felt--could not be described with words. If that was what it meant to serve the Negaverse truly and completely, he wanted no part of it. None. What he saw was disgusting and monstrous, even more so than Tanzanite. Perhaps he wasn't as devoted to the causes of the Dark Kingdom as he thought he was, because he simply couldn't comprehend what would drive a person to give up something so integral to their own power. Their star... really?

Still, when the great mirror was revealed and an unfamiliar figure took its place, something like dread uncoiled in his stomach. He'd been in Canada for the attack on the Blood Moon compound, for a family obligation he couldn't afford to miss. His siblings had been doing some huge rite of passage, he owed it to his mother to show up--so he didn't recognize Ares. The words others spoke clued him in fast enough, though, and he found himself… stunned. Why would Tanzanite, arguably one of the most Negaverse-focused members of this army, bring a known enemy into the heart of the Rift? Spinel chafed a hand over the more exposed section of his chest, the cracked hole over his starseed. It made no sense. The officers, at least, were in a rage, and he particularly had no idea which way was up. For a corrupted senshi to disobey a Negaverse General-Queen to follow a General was practically suicide, but when she had dragged away a Negaverse General he made his decision.

It took only a split second for him to know, almost instinctively, that his answer was no. Someone that volatile, who had already harmed Negaverse officers? No, he didn't want to fight alongside someone like that. No, he didn't want to be viewed as an accomplice to something like that. Aggressing on someone was no way to try to win them over, not even in an army. It just buried the resentment deeper and made it fester. And the final no: he didn't really want to go to space. Sure, some Negaverse senshi might feel excited, or eager to see their homeworlds, but all he felt was dread.

When Hematite, miraculously, still seemed determined to walk out, when he turned his back on the mirror and left, Spinel had followed. Now he stood among a small group of other Negaversers, trying in vain to go unnoticed. "And mine," he said after a brunette officer spoke up. He wasn't sure what else to say.  

[MoonKitsune]

Wolframite staggered a bit as he regained his balance, having dropped down to meet the group. He had been conflicted and torn in two for the moment Tanzanite had left. Part of him felt hurt for ever doubting her, and had wanted to go after her, but Tanzanite wasn't herself anymore. They weren't the same anyone. She didn't even talk about that time, and had only mentioned it now when it hurt the most. She and Uranophane were the only ones who he felt had to make the tough decision, and Tanzanite's was made for her out of necessity.

While he wasn't sure about Hematite, he agreed with what he said. not in such a tactless way, but Wolframite had been there. He also had worried when Ares had grabbed the officer, and panicked when he vanished. In that second, he felt his doubts were realized, only to see the pair of them return. Despite the return, with Hematite unharmed, the cockiness in which Aes took the other officer to prove her point spoke much about her character. Much about who Ares always seemed to be. She did what she felt, regardless of who you were, rank, fraction, or power. She didn't know her place, even before Tanzanite, and while warned, who was to say she wouldn't feel a sense of freedom to be out of the Rift and away from Tanzanite when they went to space. When they had to RELY on Ares to get back to Earth? Placing that much trust and power on the likes of the BMC was asking too much of the officer. Too much from what he had seen. Always saw, fresh in his mind.

He couldn't forget her song.


While Tanzanite was angry with them for doubting them, it wasn't doubt in her that he had anymore. Tanzanite said they had to use the BMC out of necessity to save their planet. That was true, but they were tools. Nothing more. A exaggerated bridge to one point to another. They were not members of his side. They never would be, and he didn't trust them in any sense of the word. He worried too. After seeing what they could do, he worried that the BMC would hurt everyone. Never again. He could not be there and let that happen.He could not stay and Earth and kill himself with regret and worry that they could all be slaughtered in space and he wasn't there to aid them. he couldn't blindly follow a order that even Tanzanite looked sick and pained to deal with. He would follow orders. He would go to space. He would protect their planet. He would allow the BMC to take them there.

He would not pretend that they were not dangerous.

Wolframite moved to the group. His body was slender, too skinny for his uniform it seemed, and his eyes dark from lack of sleep. Nightmares and a experience that haunted him and yet he had no outlet to overcome. "Tanzanite cannot protect us when we go to Space. I want to make it clear that I respect her deeply. I'm not a traitor, but..." He looked back up the slope before looking back to them. "....I know to much to pretend we are relaying on dangerous monsters. Like Tanzanite said. She didn't make this decision." He would like to think that if it was up to her, she wouldn't have allowed it. She would have kept that promise. "We need to protect our own." Their own, which did not include those murderous senshi.

Wolframite looked to the other General. He did not need to make a vow. He was in.
 

[Marushii]

Arms crossed, Ajoite was the poster child for a surly teenager. He was too fresh to the Negaverse to know of the horrors its members had soldiered through, too new to fully comprehend the recent developments. The lieutenant had not even encountered a senshi; Azurite, Paragonite, and Spinel received little more than curious stares. Those that came through the mirror had skirts, Azurite had a skirt. She also had a black, star-shaped mark on her skin. Spinel had a similar marking on his uniform. Paragonite? Skirt, yes, but black mark no.

If Ajoite took an extra minute to study them, he would have realized with a jolt that the markings were actual holes. Oblivious, Ajoite uncrossed his arms enough to stretch.

“I don’t see what the fuss is about,” he said, rolling his shoulders. “So they performed a neat smoke’n’mirrors trick. And? If it’s that much of a problem, just rig the gate in front of the thing to crack it the next time it’s opened. If it gets closed, that is.” He shrugged dismissively. "There. Mirror problem solved."

“But whatever. If it’ll help you sleep at night, then I’m in.”  

[wuthering gee]

Jack be nimble
Jack be quick
Jack jump over
The candlestick

There was a tricky business about war. Jack was an inherently flexible creature. He was not a leader. Nor was he a follower. Jack was an opportunist, and not unlike a parasite-- but a parasite with the capacity to care for his host.

It was this twisted sense of loyalty that brought him to Hematite's side today. Months ago, when the General was a Captain, he had helped Proustite steal a vintage guitar, supposedly autographed by The King himself, from one of Destiny City's music stores. From this insignificant misdemeanour a tentative friendship was born. A friendship that had become more valuable to Proustite since Hematite's promotion.

He liked having friends in high places. And liked being able to sleep at night without worrying about Hematite introducing his neck to that long a** (and probably sharp) sword.

The Lieutenant was quiet, chewing thoughtfully on the inside of his cheek, where he stood in the circle of agents that gathered around Hematite. The Youma Queen's wrath was ripe in his memory, and almost tangible in the indecision it inspired. Proustite could not help feeling a bit sick.

He was new to the Negaverse and, except for the fact that everybody else seemed to think it was a good idea, had little reason to trust Tanzanite.

But he was frightened of her, and wary of the position this decision would put him in.

If Proustite had learned anything in the time that he had been a member of the Negaverse, it was that his decisions were no longer truly his own. He could have cared less where the Senshi decided to make their home. Truthfully, Proustite even looked forward to the Alliance, if only because it meant there was more cannon fodder.

Let Ares and her soldiers help fight the Negaverse's war. They could die, so he didn't have to. Alliance and trust were not synonymous.

Proustite trusted Hematite, in his own backwards way, and recognized the wisdom in this caution. He crossed his arms comfortably over his chest, and offered up a nod.

"You have my word," his lips twitched, and a playful light danced in those brown eyes, "and my hoop."

The respective worth of these two things might have been questionable.  

[cibarium]

"You know, Hematite," came the bitter, raspy voice of yet another presence. "If I'd been asked about it a year ago... two years ago... I would have thought that I would never agree with you on anything."

General Uranophane sauntered with barely-controlled, nearly robotic, steps towards the growing crowd. There was a persistent and noticeable clack noise from the weapon in her hand, followed quickly by the thin sound of metal smoothly running against metal, as she rapped its hilt against the side of her leg over and over... extending it, then retracting it, then extending it again. She was still furious. She was in good company for it.

"But I know what the god damn truth is here, regardless of who says it." Her weapon ultimately ended up in its more portable and concealable knife form, which she angrily tucked underneath her belt -- a bit of her coat got torn in the process. It went unnoticed. "General-Queen Tanzanite apologized for the choice she made... she knew what she was doing was wrong."

Murky eyes, barely visible behind her eyewear, glowered purposefully towards the group. It was Tanzanite's fault they had gotten into that mess with the Blood Moon Court in the first place. And now she was turning right around and deliberately throwing them into another.

It was inexcusable.

"Count me in," she said. "I'll shatter every ******** mirror on Earth if that's what it takes."  

[Molten Tigrex]

Hematite grinned faintly at Bismuthite's pledge. "I like your enthusiasm."

He was more hesitant to look at Azurite and Spinel, but he had to acknowledge them. It always did seem to surprise Hematite that corrupt senshi were willing and eager to destroy other senshi. In this instance, he'd settle for the lesser of two evils. "Well said, Azurite." A somewhat painful pause. "You and Spinel... have my apologies, for ever doubting your loyalty to the Negaverse."

"That's the idea," he reassured Wolframite. A threat to the Negaverse was a threat to all of their safety. He'd certainly taken a message from Tanzanite's drawn-out stories of torture - these senshi would not be satisfied until every Negaverse soldier lay dead at their feet. They would hunt them down even as civilians. And who would be safe when there were mirrors everywhere for them to leap through? "We'll be ready for them this time."

A brief acknowledgement of Ajoite and Paragonite. He was pretty decently acquainted with them both, outside of battle. Their support was oddly reassuring, however sarcastic.

Hematite clapped Proustite on the shoulder. He could always count on this lieutenant. While he couldn't guess the things going on behind Proustite's expression, his word was enough.

The general glanced over his shoulder at the familiar voice. Uranophane. Another survivor of the BMC fiasco. He took note of the frustrated clicking of her sword, and gave her a grim look back. "Apologies don't bring people back from the dead. Not the soldiers they killed already, and not the soldiers they will when they strike at us again on the General-Queen's watch."

"It's settled then." He gave a nod to the gathered soldiers that served as the shorthand to a bow. It was an unusually respectful gesture, at least coming from him. "Let's all hope it doesn't come to this, but be ready to strike. We're the first line of defense now."

They dispersed, and with any luck their gathered auras hadn't caught the attention of their superiors' Orwellian senses.